


Life perseveres

by Windymon



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Awkwardness, Domestic Fluff, Gen, M/M, Newborn Children, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 23:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15673323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windymon/pseuds/Windymon
Summary: There is a surprise guest in Sunfury Spire. Lor'themar and Rommath are not sure what to make of it.





	Life perseveres

**Author's Note:**

> A silly fluff piece born from my own conflicted feelings about the upcoming expansion. Very mild Lor/Rom hints in it.  
> Has not been beta read for once, cause I am impatient and the expansion looms large before me.

 

It was not often Lor'themar found Rommath at a loss for words, so when he walked into their usual conference room in the Spire and did not immediately receive a tongue lashing for his tardiness from the Grand Magister already present, Lor'themar wondered if Rommath might in fact be ill.

"My apologies," Lor'themar said anyway. "I was detained by a suppliant from the Blacksmiths. They want some improvements made to their forge."

Still no reaction from Rommath, whose gaze was turned towards something at floor level.

"Rommath, are you quite alright?" he heard himself ask, just as the Grand Magister raised a hand and shushed him.

And that was when he heard the unmistakable sound of a gurgling infant.

He closed the final distance between himself and the mage, following Rommath's gaze to the basket sitting there on the floor.

Within it nestled an elf infant, peering up at them with eyes a startling blue, though the sheen that was the effect of the Sunwell on all of them had slowly begun to establish itself in its small eyes.

"Why is there an infant here?" Lor'themar asked, without taking his eye off the child, who began to suck on its chubby little fist.

"It was here when I arrived," Rommath answered irritably. "I asked the guards posted outside if they had seen anything out of the ordinary, but according to them, they had not admitted anyone besides those permitted to enter here."

As much as it pleased Lor'themar to have this visible proof that new children were being born, albeit in small numbers, a conference room in Sunfury Spire was not a place for infants. And it worried him that there was no sign of any parents.

"Are you quite sure the guards might not have missed someone sneaking in here with the child?" Lor'themar asked, keeping his one eye trained on the infant. Though it was hardly in any position to make a run for it, it was probably no more than a few weeks old.

"Are you suggesting the guards assigned to the Spire are so incompetent that they would allow someone to sneak inside here with a child, then leave it here?" Rommath said acidly. "If that is the case, I would suggest you fire the lot of them and find some new ones."

Lor'themar pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, it can't stay here," he told Rommath. "Surely it has parents somewhere?"

"It certainly didn't get here on its own," Rommath snapped. "It might not be within my area of study, but newborns can't move very far on their own."

"So, what do you suggest we do about it?" Lor'themar said, his own voice rising in irritation. And where was Halduron? Even though the meeting would have to be postponed until they had sorted out what to do about their unexpected guest.

And that was when the infant started wailing.

The look the two elves exchanged could only be described as panicked.

"We have to do something," Rommath said.

"Maybe I should call the guards," Lor'themar said.

As the child kept on wailing, the heartrending sort of cry that pierced your heart, Rommath finally let out a huge sigh.

"Fine," he muttered and leaned down to pick up the waiting infant from its blanket cocoon in the basket.

Lor'themar gazed at him in astonishment as the mage managed to rock the child into silence.

"I had younger siblings once," Rommath said without taking his eyes off the infant, now back to gurgling contently in his arms.

"I was an only child," Lor'themar said by way of explanation. "No younger cousins either."

With the changed vantage point Lor'themar could study this new addition to the land of Quel'Thalas better. It certainly looked healthy and looked after, with a bit of reddish blond hair adorning its head.

"I suppose we could look after it, " Lor'themar said as he reached out with a tentative hand. The infant wasted no time in latching onto his pinkie. "At least until the parents can be located."

"What, you and I?" Rommath said. "Are you mad?"

"You seem to have enough of a handle on it," Lor'themar said with a grin. It pleased him immensely to see a hint of color creeping up over Rommath's exposed cheekbones.

"I haven't helped care for an infant in centuries," he muttered into his cowl.

"I doubt children have changed much since then," Lor'themar said, trying to contain his own amusement.

Rommath let out a huff but said nothing.

"Perhaps you can check the basket," the mage finally said. "See if there are any clues to its identity, or where it came from."

Lor'themar reluctantly reclaimed his pinkie from the infant and crouched down to rummage around in the basket.

"There's a bottle of formula here," he told Rommath. "And extra nappies."

"Well, that's good to know," the mage said with a snort. "At least whoever abandoned the child left it with supplies."

"There's a ratty old hawkstrider plush too," Lor'themar said with a grin, holding it up for Rommath to see.

"I am going to interrogate each and every one of these guards", Rommath said with a growl. "One of them must have been away from his post and the rest are covering for his negligence."

Lor'themar sighed.

"Maybe we should speak with the priests," he said. "Perhaps some frazzled new parents came by asking for help recently."

"And when they were turned down they left their child here?" Rommath said, raising one eyebrow. "Did you hit your head on your way here, or are you simply insane?"

The infant let out a whimper and Rommath began to rock it again, cradling it against his shoulder.

"This is crazy," the mage said, finding one of the chairs and slumping down in it. "I don't have time for this."

"We'll figure something out," Lor'themar said, placing a comforting hand on Rommath's shoulder. "Once Halduron arrives, I could take over and you can attend to your other business."

"I'm not leaving it with you," Rommath said with a frown. "You just admitted to having no experience with infants."

"Surely you don't expect me to break it?" Lor'themar said, eyebrows raised.

"That you are phrasing it like that confirms that I can't leave you alone with it," Rommath snapped.

"Well, let me help in some other way then," Lor'themar asked. "As you've helped me in the past."

Lor'themar pulled up a chair next to Rommath, close enough that their shoulders and legs rubbed gently against each other.

"Hold out your arms then," the mage said. "I want to see if I can at least let you hold it."

Lor'themar did as asked and suddenly there was the soft weight of an infant nestled in his arms.

"Hello there," Lor'themar told the infant, who seemed rather unimpressed and began to suck on its fist again, leaving a prodigious amount of drool in its wake.

Meanwhile Rommath was examining the basket with a bit more scrutiny than Lor'themar had employed. There was the soft blue glow of an arcane spell and Rommath let out a hum.

"Well, it has not been here long," he said. "Not more than an hour, so it had not been left here long before I arrived."

"That's good," Lor'themar said, tearing his gaze away from the child in his arms. "That means the person ensured it would not be left alone for long."

"Yes," Rommath said, gazing about the room with his piercing stare.

"You don't suppose whoever left it is hiding somewhere?" Lor'themar asked.

"You never know," Rommath said and began to make a tour of the room, studying every corner and nook.

And then the infant began to cry again.

"Rommath!" Lor'themar cried, trying to copy the way Rommath had been rocking the child to no avail.

"Be gentle!" Rommath said as he hurried to this side, carefully taking the baby from Lor'themar's arms.

The mage seemed to have about as much luck with soothing the infant now

"It... he, might need to be changed," the mage announced as he investigated the swaddling around the infant. "Or perhaps he's hungry."

"There was that bottle of formula," Lor'themar said feebly, once more up on his feet and hovering by Rommath's side.

"And you think we'd be able to look after this infant ourselves?" Rommath said with another deep sigh, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, perhaps with practice..." Lor'themar began.

Rommath let out a snort, that might have been the beginnings of a laugh.

"Perhaps," the mage said with the hints of a smile around his eyes as he continued to rock the infant.

That was when Halduron strode into the room.

"Oh, you found him then!" he said walking up to a shocked Rommath and plucked the child from his arms.

Lor'themar joined Rommath in staring at the Ranger General as he gently rocked the child, then in one smooth motion managed to fish out the bottle from the basket still on the floor.

"There, I thought he might be wanting his bottle now," Halduron said as the child began to suck on it eagerly. “Captain Helios had some urgent business, so I had to step out for a bit.”

"Is that..." Lor'themar began.

"Yours?" Rommath finished for him, his voice rising an octave.

"Light, no!" Halduron exclaimed. "He's my sister's. She had something come up, so she asked if I could look after him today."

"Your sister?" Rommath said.

"Bria had a baby?" Lor'themar added.

"Yeah, not long ago," Halduron said, looking up from the feeding infant. "Last one was stillborn, so she didn't want to make a big deal out of it, until she knew he'd be alright."

Lor'themar felt a slight twinge inside his chest. Yes, there were children, but they were dearly bought. Every single one of them.

"I was going to tell you, Lor, honest!" Halduron added, giving Lor'themar an apologetic look. "I guess leaving him here for you to find wasn't the best way to go about it."

The blond elf smiled sheepishly at the two of them.

"No, it wasn't," Rommath said sourly, arms now crossed across his broad chest.

"You did look like you had a handle on it," Halduron said with a grin.

"He did," Lor'themar agreed, gazing over at the mage, who once again had more than a trace of pink across his cheekbones.

"Maybe he'll be your Uncle Rommath, huh?" Halduron told the infant, with a silly grin on his face.

"He already has one uncle," Rommath said testily. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh, you can always use more family, right Lor?" Halduron told him, as he replaced the empty bottle in the basket and bounced the infant lightly against his shoulder.

After the child seemed content and was back to gurgling happily in his uncle's arms, Halduron looked up at the two of them once more.

"Before we get down to business, I suppose I should make the proper introductions," he said. "Mirial Brightwing, meet your uncle Lor'themar and Rommath."

"I told you I'm not-" Rommath began.

"Forward my congratulations to Bria," Lor'themar said with a smile, as he once more let the infant grab a hold of one of his fingers, his thumb this time, which looked so large in the grasp of little Mirial. "It's for his, and the sake of all other children born that I do my best to keep us all safe."

"Don't we all," Rommath grumbled, though his gaze softened as it was drawn back to the infant.

"See, I told Bria not to worry," Halduron said with a grin. "I told him Mirial would be in good hands today. I just didn't know how many."

"You could have warned us," Rommath said, though there was no bite in his voice now.

"And spoil the surprise?" Halduron said. "No way."

Judging by the look Rommath shot Halduron, Lor'themar was certain the mage might have throttled Halduron, if not for the infant in his arms.

"You might pay for that later," Lor'themar whispered as Halduron tucked Mirial back in is basket.

"I don't care," Halduron said, still grinning. "It was worth it."

"I, at least would appreciate some advance warning next time," Lor'themar admitted, throwing another nervous glance towards the snoozing infant in the basket.

"Alright, Uncle Lor'themar," Halduron said with a smile. "Ranger's honor."

“If you two are about done, perhaps we should get back to running this country,” Rommath said impatiently. “Keeping us all safe, as you said.”

For the moment, they had some very good motivation present, sleeping contently in his basket.  And with all the madness going on in Azeroth now, Lor’themar sorely needed this reminder that life, in the end, would always persevere.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There is a Bria Brightwing on Alternate Draenor and of course I headcanon that she's Halduron's sister.  
> I also have a ridiculous headcanon of Lor'themar and Halduron being friends since childhood, with Lor'themar being kind of semi-adopted into the Brightwings.  
> (I have such wips...)  
> Rommath having siblings is also 100% headcanon stuff.
> 
> The baby's name comes from the Sindarin word for "Little treasure", because I am that kind of ridiculous sap.


End file.
